Memories of a Lost Love
by No Satisfaction
Summary: Carmelita finds out that there was someone in Sly's life before her, but even that part of his past is beyond Interpol's knowledge. Rated T to be safe. Completed
1. What's Eating Sly?

**Memories of a Lost Love**

**What's Eating Sly?**

Silhouetted against the Parisian skyline a lone figure sat depressed. Sly stared out into space. He didn't feel like gong through the cops and robbers routine today. In fact he didn't want to go through with heist. Tucked neatly away in his backpack was the world's largest pure zirconium crystal. Though there were larger, this was in fact pure zirconium, hence the name, making it far more valuable at it's simple half a pound compared to twenty pounds of regular impure zirconium. Sly sighed to himself. _'Let's do the heist tonight Bentley said. It'll cheer you up Bentley said. It'll get her off your mind Bentley said. Why? Bentley's try to distract me with these heists at this time of year, every year, and it still doesn't work! '_

The silence was broken by a pair of boots sliding across the gravel rooftop behind him.

"FREEZE COOPER!" yelled a familiar voice.

"Hello Inspector," Sly groaned, lacking in the enthusiasm he usually has towards Carmelita. "Let's just get this over with."

"I SAID FREEZE CRIMINAL!" Carmelita yelled, firing off her shock pistol. _'Why is he always like this at this time of year. It doesn't seem right. One job, he's putting out enough charm to get any other female cop to turn to a puddle with delight, the next, he sounds like he's ready to kill himself! Something happened to him.'_

After a relatively short chase through the back alleyways of Paris, Carmelita lost track of Sly. _"He didn't even bother to lay on the smallest bit of charm! Wait! What's with me, I'm missing his charm? No, I'm just so used to it that crap that it just seems weird that he'll rob and run and act as if he doesn't care about me other than just watch for my bullets.'_

Meanwhile, Sly hopped in the van. He tossed the bag to an awaiting Penelope in the back who then took out the crystal and gave it to Bentley who then began studding it like a jeweler. Sly on the other hand was lacking in his usual smile and a pat on the back attitude. Everyone noticed.

"Come on Sly!" Murray tried to cheer. "It's in the past. Let the future be what you should be looking to."

"Nice logic Murray," Penelope said.

"What?" Murray asked.

"Never mind," Penelope grunted, Murray was so wise at times and yet those moments when he brings his logics it never seemed to last for more than five minutes.

At that same time, a certain vixen had seen the Cooper gang van coming up the road.

"Oh, I got you now Ringtail!" she said to herself as she ducked behind a dumpster and pulled out a small little device. "This little tracking device should take me right to your hideout!"

The van passed by and Carmelita jumped out and tossed the tracker to the underside of the rear bumper. No one should notice it. In fact, Sly wasn't paying attention to the rearview mirror and didn't see Carmelita.

"You're not getting away this time!" Carmelita said as she hopped into her red sports car and activated the tracker. _'Though I still want to know why you're so depressed when it reaches this month! Maybe I'll find out.'_

She watched the screen of the tracker and traced the van's location to a neighborhood not far from the waterfront.


	2. Eavesdropping on the Cooper Gang

**Eavesdropping on the Cooper Gang**

The gang reached the safe house. The van pulled up into the garage that primarily made up the first floor. Sly was the first to get out of the van and headed up the stairs to the second floor, where his room was.

Carmelita pulled her car up to within a block of the safe house. When she reached the building, she saw that the garage door was opened, and she could clearly see the Cooper Gang van.

"Yep, this is the place all right!" Carmelita said to herself.

The garage door began to close, so silently, Carmelita snuck in. She ducked down behind some tool chests; obviously belonging to Murray, and it wasn't just because it said 'PROPERTY OF THE MURRAY' printed on the sides. She watched as Murray stepped out of the van and headed up the stairs. And then Bentley and Penelope out of the back.

"What's up with Sly?" Penelope asked.

"He's always like when this time of year comes," Bentley sighed.

"Was it something that that Carmelita women did?"

"No, actually it was before they even met, " Bentley said, using his rockets on the bottom of his wheelchair to help him get up the stairs.

"Wait, is this the anniversary of when his parents were," Penelope asked, finishing the sentence with a fake throat cut with her fingers.

"Actually, no." Bentley said. "There was someone before Inspector Fox, but that was a long time ago. I think her name was Angelica Laughlin."

The door shut, meaning that it was safe for Carmelita to come out of her hiding place. She began looking around; there was nothing very interesting of the garage until she came across what looked like the computer database of the office.

"Oh my," Carmelita whispered, "This database must contain information on everyone."

She went browsing through the database, looking at the large screen. There were up to date blueprints of nearly every building Sly has ever entered. There was Interpol, the Eiffel tower, a bunch of museums from all over the world, even buildings that used to be the headquarters for a number of bad guys. The personnel database was even more interesting. There were files on everyone. They even told of the location of Cooper Gang operatives from all over the world, including that freak Dimitri, Panda King, and the Guru. Taking a disk from a storage cabinet, she uploaded the files. There were also files on members of the Fiendish Five, and the Klaww Gang. Then came the files on Interpol officers. There was one on the chief, one on her best friend, Alexia, and a big file on herself.

"Let's see what you had in the past," Carmelita muttered, typing in a name.

A file came up on an Angelica Laughlin, but except for her picture, there was nothing but a security lock.

"Wow Cooper, I'm impressed," Carmelita awed. The picture was of too a fox. "A fox too, you must have a thing for them, wonder why you didn't stay with her?"

After trying so hard to get past the firewall that kept her from viewing Angelica's file, Carmelita finally gave up, and decided to do some more sneaking around. She went upstairs. _'Everyone must be sleeping, it is eleven.'_

After a few minutes in the dark, she managed to turn on a lamp. _'Nice place, it's as nice as mine!'_ She moved around, noting the bathroom, the kitchen, and then she came across the bedrooms. Each had a symbol for each member; Carmelita noticed Sly's room at the end of the hall. The door was ajar, and she could see inside. The room was relatively neat, she could see a number of pictures on the wall, some of the gang celebrating the completion of they're jobs, others were of an eight year old Sly at the orphanage, a picture of Sly with his parents, And then she saw a picture of herself, though it was nothing she saw offensive towards herself. Then she saw the pictures on Sly's desk. Seeing how there was no Sly around, Carmelita crept in and looked at the photographs on the desk.

"What happened to such a couple," she muttered to herself, in awe at the pictures, of what was Sly and Angelica together. She rummaged through them, all of Sly and Angelica together, either at picnics, or of them dancing, but the last one was unusual. It was a picture of Sly and Angelica wearing military jumpsuits in front of a military cargo plane.

"What the…!" Carmelita muttered.

Deciding not to stick around to get caught in case Sly appeared, she went out onto the balcony that was connected to his room and jumped down to the pavement and headed for her car.

"I have everything I need for your arrest Cooper!" she smiled to herself, and she drove off.


	3. Day of Defeat

**Day of Defeat**

The next day, Carmelita began checking their database for Sly's ex. Robin, the technician, who was also what his name suggested, was under the watchful eye of Carmelita. They both searched Interpol, but to no avail.

"If you ask me," Robin said. "She must have been from before the Cooper gang had begun their life of crime. In fact, she probably hasn't done anything illegal to put her on the database."

But Carmelita was sure there was at least one record for her. In fact, her mind kept floating back to that last photograph she saw. _'That plane they were in front of, THAT WAS A UNITED NATIONS CARGO PLANE!'_

"Try searching the UN Military forces database," Carmelita said. "Try looking under pilots beginning from around maybe seven or so years ago, around when Cooper was eighteen."

"You're on to something Inspector," Robin smiled. "Got IT!"

The same picture of Angelica appeared. And so did her file. There was little information on her though.

"It seems to me Inspector," Robin noticed. "It appears that this Angelica Laughlin used to live at the same orphanage as Sly Cooper. But it doesn't say whether she is on active duty, or if she's retired…"

Robin typed some more, until a red band appeared over the picture. In bold white letters, they read DECEASED.

"Well, that's it," Robin sighed. "Whoever she was, your not gonna find her 'cause she's dead."

"Thanks for the help," Carmelita said as she left the room to go to her office.

As soon as she entered, the chief's voice came up on her intercom on her desk. "Fox! Need to see you in my office."

"Alright," the chief said. "We've apprehended the three members of the Cooper gang, right where you said they would be. The only thing is that we can't keep this Guru weirdo behind our bars because he hasn't done anything illegal, or at least anything directly related to the Cooper Gang jobs. We can keep the lizard Dimitri because he hasn't finished his sentence back in Italy, when Cooper busted him out, but we keep him anyway because of his connections to the gang, and it's the same way with Panda King. Good job Inspector."

"Thank's sir," Carmelita said with a smile on her face. "I found the location of where the rest are hiding, and I need a task force to help on the raid."

"Already done that Inspector," Chief said. "Your raid will begin at five o'clock sharp!"

A few hours later, an Interpol SWAT team suited up, among them was Carmelita herself, and an ex UN Military Field Officer by the name of Unum. The team jumped into the vans and headed for the hideout, but not before Carmelita noticed something. _'Why does Unum give me the creeps? He is after all, a retired military rank.'_

The gang was eating Chinese take out for dinner and didn't notice anything suspicious until it was to late. There was an explosion in the garage.

"WHAT THE HELL WA THAT?" Sly yelled.

"MY BABY!" Murray cried.

Suddenly, the door to the garage was busted down and in came a bunch of men toting guns. Serum guns to be in fact.

"Run!" Bentley yelled. Suddenly, one man ran up and kicked his wheelchair over and kneeled down so that Bentley had a cop's knee on his throat.

Another banged into Penelope, thrusting her into the wall, where she was handcuffed. Murray on the other hand had the cops running for their money.

"IT'S PAYBACK FOR WHAT YOU MUST HAVE DONE TO THE VAN!" Murray yelled, cloths lining and cracking skulls of any cop who where dumb enough to try to take him on. And then a tranquilizer dart was fired into Murray's arm. "YOU THINK THAT CAN STOP ME!" and before he knew it, he was getting pinned with darts. "Yeah rig…" And then he passed out.

Sly ran for his room. But before he jumped out of his window, he ran back for a picture on his desk. As soon as he grabbed it, he was tackled. Sly tried to reach the picture that was just out of his reach on the floor. He kept squirming. He managed to get free when a burly otter appeared. _'He looks so damn familiar.'_ He was then followed by who appeared to be a woman, but she was disguised. The otter pulled out a dart gun and emptied it into Sly's back. Sly continued for a short way down the road before he finally gave in. It was the end of the Cooper Gang.

Carmelita pulled off her mask and punched Unum. She saw everything.

"I WANT TO PUT THEM BEHIND BARS, NOT IN A MORGUE!" she yelled.

A physician came up to her after inspecting an unconscious Sly. "Excuse Inspector, there is a matter we need to discus. You see, that attack was practically the definition of excessive force. The turtle guy will be hurting every time he talks, that mouse lady needs to have her arm in a sling, that brawny hippo guy doesn't seem to have any damage though, and that Cooper fella, well, mister overkill over there," he pointed to Unum, "pumped him with too much nerve agent, so now we have to watch to make sure he doesn't go into cardiac arrest for the next forty-eight hours or so because otherwise, the doctors are gonna have one hell of a time trying to resuscitate him."

'_What have I done? This IS the end of Cooper!'_


	4. First Meeting

**First Meeting**

"It's been three days," Carmelita said, observing Sly's laying motionless on the cot in his cell. "Why hasn't Cooper awaken yet?" She was talking to a physician.

"I've seen this before," he began. "He sort of created a personel utopia in his mind, like a happy place, and when that otter Unum pumped with that nerve agent, it sent him there. Now he is sort of in a voluntary coma. He could've snapped out of it when the darts wore off, but he chose to stay like that. He can just wake up if he wants to, but he doesn't seem to. Has Cooper had any emotional problems?"

"His parents were murdered before his eyes," Carmelita said. "And it appears that he has a deceased ex-girlfriend."

"Really?" the guy asked. "I've heard about his parents, but I haven't heard of Sly Cooper being in love. Anyway, Upon closer examination, I think he can be snapped out of it. We just need to get him to suppress a memory, something possibly happy but tear jerking at the same time, like maybe memories of that girlfriend."

"But how?"

"Well that Guru guy said he was able to connect people to other peoples' minds, and seeing how you're the specialist on him, I think it's only fair that you use the Guru person to help you flush out those memories."

"Me? In Cooper's mind? I don't even want to know what he thinks about to begin with. Can't we just wait for him to ride this out?"

"Well, we could Inspector, but that could take hours, days, weeks, or even years. Hell, he's likely to not even choose to wake up from this, EVER!"

"Fine," Carmelita sighed. "Like what other thing can I do? Bring in the Guru."

A few minutes later, three guards surrounding a koala appeared and separated.

"All right Guru," Carmelita said in a serious manner. "Your pal Cooper won't wake up for interrogation, so I need you to put inside his mind so I can flush him out of his sleep so I can chew out whatever info I need to put him in Heathrow Prison!"

The Guru replied with some gibberish and led Carmelita to a spot next to Sly's cot. Carmelita folded her legs like the Gur and before she knew it, she was in a room that was filled with images of Sly's memories. She saw one of Sly learning to ride a bike; she also saw one of when Sly paraglide onto Clock-La's back to smack that backstabber Neyla in the face a few times. Then she came across a memory of that volcano. She watched as she saw herself lip lock with Sly for the first time, and couldn't help but blush, only to give herself a mental kick in the head and remind herself why she was here.

'I'm here to find those memories. Not dilly dally, though still, it wouldn't hurt to see what else he has on his mind.'

An evil grin appeared on her face, and she went looking around some more.

'Wow, I never would have thought that Sly was so clean, I mean there is nothing offensive as far as I see.'

Suddenly, she tripped and fell into a memory. It was as if she really was there. She was at Sly's orphanage. She could instantly tell who was who. But no one could see her. She was like a ghost.

"So this where Sly spent much of his childhood, huh?"

She then saw a little ten-year-old Sly, he was just hanging with his friends, Sly was just sitting on a bed twirling his cane. A girl passed by and something fell out of her pocket. Sly turned his head, and went to go pick it up.

"Excuse me, you dropped something," he said, catching up to the girl. She turned around to see that she was a fox.

"Thank you," she said.

"I'm Sly," Sly said.

"I'm Angelica, nice to meet you."

A few minutes later, Sly returned to his friends.

"Sly, you're a regular lady's man," Bentley said.

The memory ended, and Carmelita found herself back where she was just before she tripped.

"Amazing, I would never of thought that Sly was so cute back then…what the…now I'm calling him cute, oh jeez, I really need a vacation."

She then continued on, looking for another memory.


	5. First Kiss

**First Kiss**

Carmelita continued to search the vast confines of Sly's mind. She was learning more and more about Sly. She learned that the first thing he stole were cookies from the orphanage's headmistress, that Sly helped her out on her first security assignment, which was the first time the two met, and she learned that Sly was only stole from criminals, and that the only reason that he stole from museums was because he wanted to prove that it could be stolen.

She then came across a new memory, and entered it.

Before her, she saw an eighteen year old Sly and Angelica hanging out in a park. They were talking.

"Starting tomorrow," Sly said, he had a frown on his face. "You won't be seeing me for a while, because I signed up to pilot UN cargo planes. You know how I was at their training school for the last year."

"Actually Sly," Angelica said. "Irony here is because we're both gonna be in that business!"

"Really?" Sly said, he had a smile on his face. "What are you doing?"

"I'm co-piloting for someone by the name of SC, I'll be flying a new cargo plane called the HK-1."

"Wow, I guess I'll see you on the flight deck tomorrow then."

Angelica put two and two together. SC stood for Sly Cooper!

"SLY!" she cried, wrapping her arms around him. "Oh, I love you!"

"Oh I love you too," Sly said, with a smile.

Suddenly the two began to kiss, and then the memory was over. Carmelita just stared off into space. As tacky as it seemed, she couldn't help but feel happy for Sly.

"Hm, if he weren't a criminal, maybe I would have dated him…stop Carmelita," she said to herself. "He is a criminal and that's all he's ever gonna be."

She then passed another memory. It seemed to catch her eye.

"Is that? Oh no it couldn't be," Carmelita said. She was wide-eyed with horror. "I got some arrests to make when I'm out of here!"


	6. Fatal Flight

**Fatal Flight**

'_I hope this is the last memory I need to suppress in Sly's mind'_ Carmelita thought as she reached herself into another.

This memory took place at least a few months or so after that picnic memory she saw. Carmelita found herself amidst the Cooper Gang, strapped into seats. Up ahead she could see Sly and Angelica at the controls of the airplane, which by the way was shaking. And then it ended.

"Turbulence has passed guys," Sly said, getting out of his seat. "Cover for me Angelica."

"Right Sly," Angelica said.

Carmelita watched as Sly went aft into what was the bathroom, and then went up to Angelica. She then noticed that Angelica was wearing a corsage on her wrist.

"So you used to be Sly's girlfriend," Carmelita said, crossing her arms. "What's he gonna do to make you scar him for life?"

Sly came back out of the bathroom and went to talk to Bentley, who had moved to a seat at the navigator's controls. "Where are?"

"We should be over the Azores in about ten minutes coming from the north," the turtle said.

Suddenly there was a beeping on the console where Angelica was. Sly rushed up there.

"It's not engine four acting up again is it?" he asked. Suddenly a light went on; above it was the word SAM.

"Shit! We've been painted!" Angelica said. "Markers showing two of them coming from the front, visual in…"

Suddenly two missiles sped by the cockpit. "…Now."

"This is whiskey yankee Charlie, number six six eight one, who ever is using us as target practice, I order you to call it off!" Sly yelled into his intercom.

Suddenly two more missiles appeared.

"I REPEAT! CEASE FIRE!" Sly shouted. "DAMMIT, WE'RE CARRYING MEDICAL SUPPLIES!"

"Sly," Murray said, appearing at the staircase to the lower level of the plane where the cargo hold was. "I don't think these are medical supplies!" Murray tossed over what appeared to be a hunk of metal. "The crates are full of them!"

"Shit, it's a setup!" Sly yelled. "We can't out maneuver them!"

Suddenly, the plane shuddered.

"We've lost engines two and three," Angelica yelled. "And operating at only fifty percent on number one and thirty percent on four!"

"We may need to bail!" Sly said, pulling out a bunch of parachutes from a storage locker behind his seat. "There are some rafts in that locker there!" He pointed to another for Murray to open.

"Get readies everyone!" Sly yelled, hitting the auto-pilot on and opening a door.

Everyone jumped, leaving only Sly and Angelica.

"We need to go!" Sly yelled.

"You jump, I'll follow," Angelica said. She had a worried look.

"You first…"

Suddenly, the plane was engulfed in a fireball. The shock from the impact of the missiles striking the fuselage of the plane was strong enough to send Sly falling out of the plane just in time to miss the wall of fire that would have engulfed his body. It seemed like forever as Sly free felled to earth in a half awake state. It was nearly too late when he open his parachute as he smacked the water at a high speed. The parachute, taking on water, dragged an already struggling Sly deep below the surface. Cutting himself free, he managed to release the pressurized air to fill his life jacket. As he floated up to the surface, he watched as the plane wreckage sank before him, and then he saw it drifting to him. The corsage he had given to Angelica.

As soon as he erupted from the surface, Sly activated a raft pod and pulled himself in and sobbed.

And just like that, Sly woke up. He screamed and rolled off his cot and sobbed.


	7. Ending a Mystery

**Ending a Mystery**

Carmelita came out of her trance and looked down at her feet. There was Sly, sobbing like a little girl. Guru, thinking that this is a moment that Sly and Carmelita need to share backed off, and since he was free to go, simply left. There was no one else around to see this tear jerking scene.

"Sly!" Carmelita cried, turning Sly over so they could look each other in the eyes. "I saw everything. I'm sorry."

"Ever since then, I-I-I lost my nerve to take the next step with anyone," Sly yelped. "I feared that when I finally found a women to settle with she gets yanked from me by fate."

"It wasn't fate, I know who did it," Carmelita cried. "The one who fired the missiles, the one who took Angelica away from you!"

And suddenly, Sly was calmed down. And then before the two knew it, the two kissed. When they broke it off, Sly asked, "Who?"

Ten minutes later, the police were breaking down Captain Unum's office door. And in came Carmelita, kicking Unum to the ground and slapping the handcuffs on him.

"What is the meaning of this!" Unum yelled. "Get these off of me at once!"

"Captain Unum," said Sly, guards moving aside to let him through. "You are under arrest by the authority of Interpol and the United Nations for selling military and nuclear secrets to terrorists from which I had witnessed, and staging an attempt on the Cooper Gang, primary target me, as well as the murder of Angelica Laughlin"

Then a series of military plaid men barged in and grabbed Unum, who was struggling.

"YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME COOPER!" Unum yelled. "ONE DAY YOU'LL END UP LIKE LAUGHLIN!"

Carmelita and Sly stared at each other. And then she guided him back to his cell. "Remember Cooper, you still have a sentence to fulfill."

"Wouldn't have it any other way gorgeous," Sly replied with a smirk on his face.


	8. Starting Something New

**Starting Something New**

"FOX!" the Chief barged in. "THE COOPER GANG IS GONE!"

But there was no sign of Carmelita. Her office was empty. The chief hit the intercom. "WHERE THE HELL IS INSPECTOR FOX!"

"Sorry sir," someone said on the other end. "Inspector Fox isn't here. She punched in, but she's gone."

'_Then where is she?'_

And then the chief saw the contents on the desk. Hanging from the desk lamp was Carmelita's badge, and resting on the desk was her shock pistol. Next to it was a letter of resignation, and on top of that was the Cooper Gang calling card!

"WHAT THE HELL!"

A few hours earlier… 5:00AM

Carmelita sat at her desk. She took off her badge and slung it over the lamp, put her shock pistol down and set down the letter. She then turned to see Sly standing in the window.

"You sure you want to do this?" Sly asked.

"I haven't been surer about anything!" Carmelita said, kissing Sly. She then headed down the fire escape.

Sly then moved over to the desk and put down his logo and headed down the fire escape and met up with Carmelita. The two kissed and got in the team van, which drove off. For the first time in six years, Sly was finally starting something new for himself.


End file.
